MERMOZ (Jean)

Lot 413
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Estimation :
2500 - 3000 EUR
MERMOZ (Jean)
Project for the creation of an airfield near Rio de Janeiro. [circa 1934]. 2 p. and a half on 2 ff. in-4 (27.8 x 21.5 cm) peel paper, brown ink. Autograph manuscript of a text about the creation of an aerodrome in Calabouço, Brazil (today Santos- Dumont airport): "When a foreign plane arrives for the first time in Rio de Janeiro, the first place for a landing that the pilot discovers is the Calabouço airfield. He immediately imagines the advantages that could be drawn from its privileged location and constructs in his mind the complete and rational aerodrome that Rio could be the first city in the world to have. It is from this spontaneous first impression that the technical and moral arguments for the installation and organization of the Calabouço aerodrome are gradually extracted. Technical argument: One always starts by looking for a landing field as soon as one leaves a town, as close as possible to the outskirts of the town. But sometimes you have to go very far to find a suitable natural place, offering maximum advantages and guarantees of safety. It is for this reason alone that aerodromes are mostly located at a considerable distance from the city centre. [...]». The runway was extended as early as 1936 and a new terminal for seaplanes was inaugurated in 1938. PROVENANCE: Sale Paris, 11 October 2008, lot M94. Some tears, some with gaps reaching the text.
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